Bio

John McCaffary was an Irish immigrant who settled in the young state of Wisconsin during the mid-nineteenth century. Like many immigrants of that era, he came to the United States seeking work and a better future.

He lived in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, where he worked as a farmer. McCaffary was married to Bridgett McCaffary, and the couple lived together in a developing frontier community.

Murder Story

On July 23, 1850, Bridgett McCaffary was found dead in a backyard cistern at the family property in Kenosha. Investigators concluded that she had been deliberately drowned. Suspicion quickly centered on her husband, John McCaffary, who was arrested the same day and charged with first-degree murder.

The case drew major public attention in Wisconsin, which had only recently become a state in 1848. McCaffary’s trial began on May 6, 1851. After hearing testimony and evidence, the jury found him guilty of willful murder on May 23, 1851.

The court sentenced him to death by hanging. On August 21, 1851, thousands gathered outside the courthouse and jail in Kenosha to witness the execution. Reports stated that the hanging was poorly carried out, and McCaffary struggled for around twenty minutes before dying.

The disturbing public spectacle shocked many observers and strengthened calls to end capital punishment in Wisconsin. Two years later, in 1853, the state abolished the death penalty and replaced it with life imprisonment. No one has been executed by Wisconsin since John McCaffary.